I am on a mission to learn the manzanitas this year so greatly appreciate those snapshots of whiteleaf manzanita. Suddenly manzanitas are no longer "Oh, just another manzanita" to me but "Wow, look at the x,y or z on that manzanita." You are already getting the hang of getting the right stuff focused in a macro lens - that's tough to do and I am impressed. Maybe looking through the macro lens is kinda like looking through a bee's eyes?

I too adore Arctos, and have had the pleasure of seeing a couple dozen species so far. But with 62 species in CA, I do still have a number of them to see. But... I am familiar with A. manz, and I gotta nicely ask - BB, are you sure of your ID? This looks like the infamous local A. viscida ssp. mariposa, Mariposa Manzanita. Is it sticky?

eep! You know, I was searching for manz on my blog after I wrote the above & A. viscida popped up and I thought, as I dashed out the door, "Uh oh..." AND, you would know as you probably live v. near me, so lemme take another look & in all likelihood, correct the error. Plus, I live in Mariposa AND Mariposa county, so...

=) THANK YOU!! =)

62 species, wow. That's pretty amazing. Clearly my admiration is NOT an informed one--I just love 'em. As do the bees.

I don't actually live in Mariposa, but visit often. In fact, I'm here right now. Wanna do a hike Sunday or Monday? I sent you a flickr mail.

Yep, 62 species. But not because they're oh so common, but because there are a whole bunch that have become localized species with tiny ranges, such as only growing on one specific mountain top, or ridgeline. I.e., a surprising percentage of the 62 are rare species, which is one of the things that makes seeing them difficult, and also makes the genus soooo cool. For example, Arctostaphylos imbricata only grows on San Bruno Mountain, just south of SF. The next ridge south - Arcto montaraensis, another rarity. :)

Btw - don't know if you ever pilgrimage to see rare native plants, but if you like the Euro Erodium, you would LOVE the native California Filaree, California macrophylla. Bigger leaves, bigger flowers, and they're white instead of pink.

Wow--that is SUPER cool re: C. macrophylla--I'll def. have to write that down & figure out where it is. Re: San Bruno, I feel like fate keeps yelling at me GO THERE! 'Cause last spr/sum/fall worked on a project that had a species near it that also occurred at San Bruno, and at a conf. recently talked to a biologist whose been there and she LOVES it. Sounds like an amazing ecological refuge.